City to appeal order to reinstate officers

CHATTANOOGA — Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said the city will appeal an order to reinstate two former police officers accused of using excessive force when subduing an inmate.

CHATTANOOGA — Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said the city will appeal an order to reinstate two former police officers accused of using excessive force when subduing an inmate.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported Berke said in a statement Monday that he supports Police Chief Bobby Dodd’s decision to fire officers Adam Cooley and Sean Emmer.

“We must maintain the trust of our community, and I will not allow the actions of a few to tarnish the good work of so many officers who do their jobs the right way every day,” Berke said in the statement.

The appeal will be filed on Oct. 10, which is the first day it is allowed, Berke said.

Authorities said police were called to a disorder at the Salvation Army halfway house when inmate Adam Tatum brandished a knife at another inmate on June 14, 2012.

The newspaper reports officers used Mace and a Taser on Tatum and struck him more than 40 times with batons. His injuries included eight leg fractures, a broken nose and blackened eyes.

Police administrators determined that the officers used excessive force and they were fired in November.

During an administrative hearing this June, the officers argued that they should be reinstated because they followed their training and did not use excessive force in restraining Tatum.

Dodd told the newspaper that the judge’s ruling does not change his opinion that the officers should have been fired.

Some members of law enforcement have criticized Dodd’s position.

“Our justice system cleared the cops. Yet their employer and boss are degrading the judicial process,” retired patrol officer Michael Burns said in an email. “The statement of ‘I’d fire them again,’ who do you think liked it? The men and women in blue or the mayor? It’s a good thing we have all those CARTA buses all over town. It makes it easier to throw the warriors under one.”

Ash-Lee Henderson, who has helped circulate a petition to persuade city leaders to appeal, says she has collected more than 850 signatures.

“We’re not going away until we know these two officers won’t be back on the streets,” she said.